Save the Earth from Dinosaur Hordes in Exoprimal

One of the upcoming team-based online multiplayer action game that is coming from Capcom and Takuro Hiraoka (in the director’s seat) is named Exoprimal. It has already been announced earlier this year and is going to drop to market some time in 2023 for PC, PS4/PS5 as well as XBOX ONE and series X/S. The specific Exoprimal release date is still not officially announced but we sure are excited about this one, as it looks quite outstanding to us.

From the trailers we got to witness, it heavily suggests that the Exoprimal game would involve a lot of high-tech battles with complex power-armors against a variety of dinosaur species that have been teleported from back in time. It somehow achieves a blend between ancient and futuristic concepts mixed into one and that definitely tickles our imagination. In this review we are going to have a more in-depth look at the story, modes and characters that the Exoprimal game will offer as an experience to players, as well as some of the more specific details that we noticed in the footage that you may have missed. So gear up, get in your exosuits and prepare to save humanity from the dinosaur crisis that is upon us!

The plot and setting.

The game is told to take place in the year 2043, where due to unknown anomalies portals around the globe opened up and started dropping hoards of dinosaurs into the futuristic world Exoprimal is set in. There are even 7-day vortex forecasts (hosted by an android called Ivy from an organization named Aibius) that show the percentages of eventual dinosaur outbreaks by regions. During the emergency warnings and evacuations we get a glimpse of a person entering their exosuit and preparing for battle.

The footage then goes into previews with lots of devastation for civilization as the raptors, who are wreaking havoc to the cities and infrastructure that humans use. There have been volunteers that start training in exosuits to fight back the threat that has been going on for almost three years – from 2040 going all the way up to 2043, in an attempt to understand why it did occur and who caused the spacetime distortions.

The trailers just hint at a potential malfunction by an increasingly determined A.I. (Leviathan) looking to develop the best warrior suits possible. It is making hundreds of exofighters to go around in battles in its search of the perfect battle exosuits and nobody knows what would be the outcome of the crisis that has been happening on the sealed off Bikitoa island. But one thing becomes clear from the start, the more bloody battles there are, the more Leviathan learns and uses the data to reach its final goals. It would stop at nothing to complete the given directives no matter the number of attempts and iterations it needs to conduct, it does not care how many lives get diminished in the process, as long as the perfect suit gets discovered in the end.

Team Hammerhead - The characters that we would meet and be able to play as in the Exoprimal game.

The main people that the plot revolves around are team Hammerhead - some of the best exosuit fighters the world has seen and their squad of navigators and mechanics. Some of them are seasoned veterans and others are talented rookies that are looking to get things resolved in the messy situation caused by the dinosaur invasions that usually pour from an open vortex in the skies.

There are a few of the main participants in the team that we are aware of and have been presented to so far. These include Ace, the team leader and main protagonist, who is one of the leading exofighters. That would actually be you and you can change that character’s looks and attributes the way you want in the character development creation studio the game offers. You are able to customize their gender, race and general outlook features of the hero avatar.

Let’s move on to the other members of team Hammerhead that are prepared by Capcom in Exoprimal;

Lorenzo is the leader of the squad and main exosuit technician, he is primarily referred to as “Chief” by the rest of the team and resembles the father figure that makes sure to protect everyone.

Next on the list is Alders, who is the tech-geek and engineer that operates the equipment and provides cool gadgets for upgrades to the fighters. He has a prosthetic robotic arm that probably was lost during a tough battle in the past.

Majesty is another active exosuit combatant that participates in the missions. Her role is not exactly clarified but it probably is very important when it comes to keeping you safe during missions and rollouts.

Then we got Sandy, who is a support android from AIbius, she is responsible for coordination and mission briefs as well as assisting the operations with crucial information and/or skill competencies when it comes to targets and vortex eruptions.

Other characters that the player encounters in the Exoprimal platforms include;

Magnum, a qualified fellow exosuit pilot, he provides important information and assists the team during rough situations and helps you to survive during the wargames organized by Leviathan.

Durban is an enigmatic pilot that is not revealed clearly as a friend or foe and even though he follows your progress it is suggested that he might be following his own personal interests that might not include your safety. His involvement in the plot shows a clash between him and team Hammerhead, but his motives are mysterious as of writing this review.

Each of the active fighter exosuits has a class assigned to them in the game and these might include: DPS, Tank or Support which are the typical team roles when it comes to modern gaming and a proven formula for effective strategies. They all have their particular arsenal, skills and specifics that the game allows you to explore as you should manage them with boosts and upgrades over the course of your campaigns.

Tanks are heavily inspired by the samurai outfits with a mighty armor and swords for close range combat, they are agile and provide serious blasts to clear the perimeters. They come equipped with a counter skill that shields them from attacks, while getting pumped up to enter the “Resetsu” state that boosts the players’ abilities and damage potential.

The spotlight also landed on the support class type that offers the ability to even fly through the air over the battle and provide heals and aerial attacks with a lance. This is also where we should mention the Optic jammer skill that blinds the enemies and allows for ground forces to strike more viciously and the other unique feature that exploits gravity fields in which movement could become quite tough to navigate, slowing down enemies significantly.

We did get a few short moments of an even bigger exosuit for example a very HEAVY one that seemed as a grand crusher and kind of resembled the HULK-BUSTER armor, we noticed it carries a massive shield that probably both protects the team as well as deals big amounts of damage in melee, but not much information is revealed for it so far, anyway it did look awesome and probably we are going to get specifics on it at a later stage.

Some of the more extravagant weapons that have been showcased include the Blade rig that is basically a massive electromagnetic shuriken that stuns nearby enemies allowing for easier evasion or delivering final blows. Speaking of enemies….

What threats are we up against in Exoprimal game modes?

Some of the species of dinosaurs we get to defeat include Dilophosaurus, which is a fast-paced creature, with a very noticeable reddish neck frills on both sides of its head, that is able to spit poison from afar and forms a venomous cloud that obstructs the vision of players, making it a deadly long-range enemy that will give you a hard challenge.

Another one is the Carnotaurus, which is much bigger than the latter but it absolutely does not mean it is slow, quite the opposite even – it is flexible and maneuvers very well, which surely makes it one of the more dangerous threats you will encounter in the Exoprimal game! It has charging abilities that you should avoid at all cost or you just might get crushed by it severely.

Finally we had the pleasure of meeting a mutant T-Rex Neosaur that even the developers describe as a “strange and twisted” variant of the one we are usually used to. It has immense powers and actually could use some sort of plasma to rip you apart, but probably it has much more to offer as devastation, so be extremely cautious around them.

The Exoprimal Capcom promise is that they have much more prepared as announcements for the future in terms of gear, suits, rigs and weaponry as well as dinosaur species to reveal, so we are really excited what would come out in the upcoming months around this promising title.

The customization of suits should be quite detailed since we did notice the sections in the “Hangar” game menu that lead us to believe there will be many skins, decals, modules and even charms to make your exosuit warrior fitting to your personal style properly.

The modes that have been announced so far in Exoprimal release;

The game is going to feature at least a few different modes for players to enjoy. Most of the Exoprimal game modes would revolve around unique campaigns in which players face massive dinosaurs that they have to defeat, while others would be much more straightforward and familiar in type.

The first and main Exoprimal multiplayer game mode to mention here is the one named “Dinosaur survival” which is a PvPvE mode. Two teams of 5 players face up against each other in a battle to capture an objective first, all whilst enduring battles that Leviathan has set up for them.

Next we got the “Dinosaur Cull”, which would include hunting down a select type of dino that must be reached in a massive ongoing battle that would include other groups of enemies. The targeted dinosaur would have to be lured to a specific trap or location in order to be captured, so it is probably not going to be too easy. It would require players to develop strategic thinking in their methods to succeed in this one.

Another confirmed type is a survival mode named VOTL defense, in which players must defend a location from the incoming waves of ever growing numbers of raptor hordes of creatures trying to destroy the objective. Protect the objective as best as you can or face defeat and certain doom!

There is also a capture-the-flag type of game that has been named “Data Key security” where players must obtain and successfully deliver a device back to safety. “Omega charge” is a more unique mode that involves charging up a super-weapon to a point where it is able to destroy a big dinosaur that is causing trouble. Last but not least is the “Energy taker” type that puts players against each other in an attempt to collect more energy than their competition.

Updates on new Exoprimal modes would be welcome, but even from the mentioned so far, the game seems to have a good diversity in its gameplay features and would offer something exciting for each occasion.

In conclusion we must say that we can’t wait for the Exoprimal Steam servers to go live and start our journey through the demolished cities. Will Exoprimal be cross platform? Time will tell, but we sure hope so! One thing is for sure though, this is a title to keep track of in the coming year and we are most certainly going to let you know of any future announcements there are from the developers, so that you are all well-informed!